This goes out to all bingers

I have been struggling with binge eating for almost a year now, and have tried EVERYTHING i could possibly think of. What i've learned though, is that it helps to know your not the only one out there that's dealing with these problems.

If your a binge eater, feel free to talk about any problems that your dealing with. We can all help eachother get through this.

-morgen

I'll start it off-

I wrestled my first year of highschool, and all of those starvcation diets let me to this circle i cant get out of.

I eat good all week, then blow up on the weekends. its like everything i turn down during the week, i make up for it. NOT a good thing.

i can't eat any sweets with eating the entire box/container.

feel like i have to self control

i had anorexia, and gain my healthy weight with the binges.

keep binging

hate it

agh

what triggers your binges?? mine's anytime i eat ANYTHING "unhealthy"

I can relate to you guys so much! I've had binging problems since I started recovering from anorexia. Its terrible! I want so bad to have control over food back. I fear that I never will again in my life.

How abou time of day? IALWAYS start healthy but at night, much away.
Have you thought about how you THINK whilse binging. ie why you do it<

YES!! mine are almost ALWAYS at night. and i tend to sneak to the kitchen alot, bc im ashamed of my mom seeing me eating as much as i do...i hate it!!!

im constantly telling myself while binging that it'll be okay, ill just do good tomorrow or something

My binges tend to be triggered by emotional cues: depression, anxiety, stress (etc). 

I was diagnosed with BED (binge eating disorder) in 1994 and it's been an uphill battle with it ever since.  I have learned some cognitive techniques to help control the binges or some of the triggers, but I don't think I will ever be 'free' of it.  The best I can hope for is to have some sort of control on it, and be able to have 'controlled binges', if that makes sense.

AHHHH morgen12 your just like me! or at least we do similar things.  like if i eat one bad thing then im like well i mind as well eat bad for the rest of the day and then i end up trying to eat as much junk food as i can because i tell myself i wont eat any again for a long time. and when i would do it i would sneak like seriously tip toeing into the kitchen. its nice to know theres other ppl that do stuff like that to.

yesss me too. and i get so ashamed of it. right now my main goal is to not view food as good or bad. i want to be able to eat what i want and stop when satisfied instead of eating like its my last day on earth

My binges are perhaps triggered by stress and uncertainty, but they're fueled by sugar and carbs which make me binge even more. I have no control when it comes to cake. I will always eat the whole thing.  One small slice leads to an entire, two layer cake. Ditto with cereal or a loaf of bread. 

heyy girls..

my name is josie and im new to this website.. i thought ill join because i really need help.. im 16 years old and suffering from anorexia .. i got diagnosed about 2months ago and its been really hard. the last week before my parents sent me to hospital i nearly had a heart failure and its been hard for me and my parents... ive gained about 2 kgs and still on the road to getting better but the last 2 weeks or so ive been binging really badly.. i dont know why and i cant stop them.. its like cravings and i get so full but i still eat it .. its like anything i can get my hands on.. chocolate anything.. i feel so guilty afterwards and fat and say ill eat healthier the next day but it ends up the same.. when i was reading what ' chocolatechipmuffin' and ' morgen12 ' were saying.. it felt like i was reading my own life.. to read that .. it feels like im not alone becuase i cant really talk to anyone becasue no one really understands.. but could anyone tell me why i binge like this and how can i control it.. thanks guys..
xxoxoo

You guys are not alone. I suffered through anorexia 2 years ago and it almost killed me. When I came home from the hospital getting better in time I started to relapse and starting getting back down to a low weight. Then one day I just gave up all fears and started cramming the junk food. I binged very badly. I must have done it for 2 months straight and gained 30 pounds! I've been binging on and off ever since. I thought I was alone in this too. I didn't even know there was a such thing as B.E.D. and I felt really weird being this way since I had previously been anorexic. Which I do still battle everyday.

For me, it seems just like you morgen, that once I eat one sweet thing I can't stop myself. I feel like I'm under a lot of stress and feel like I'm trapt in my healthy eating and in binging it's like I'm letting go and being free. Not caring anymore. Kind of like a kid let loose in a candy store. Then I think it's the guilt of eating so much, that leads me to eat more. I also tend to do it at night, though I'm tempted morning as well. Ah well. :/

It's just good to know that you can find others in this world with some of your same problems. It makes you feel less like a mutant freak. :P I'm here for you all. *hugz.

and yes, as ya'll can see, there are other people doing the same things we do. I'm afraid that the sweets issue some of us have is do to us depriving our selves of the foods we really enjoy, which obviously back fires on us whenever we get down, depressed or anxiety takes over. we all want this cycle to stop, right?

well what im going to try is to let myself eat the things i want. i know its risky, but i dont want to go through another diet that comes with even more pounds than before. there's only two rules. both of which are much easier to say than do, but im willing to try.

1. only eat when feeling hungry.
2. STOP eating when satisfied (halfway on the hunger scale)

this way you can stop eating  the wonderful foods you like, because you KNOW you can have some tomorrow.

I'm not anorexic but just the opposite, my binges come to me in the evening after everyones gone to bed or when i feel rebellious or depressed or stressed. I have a technique I'm going to try to see if it works, when i want some of my cookies or chips-n-dip I'm going to get a plate or napkin and put on it exactly one serving of whatever i want and before i go eat it I'm going to put it in the cabinet/frige out os sight so that maybe i'll take the out of sight out of mind thing. dunno if it'll work but its worth a shot if it can keep me from eating the whole bag, I'll still get what i want just not to a point where i hurt myself with it like i did this weekend, my stomach was sore and i felt awful.

omg i know how all of you feel! but you know what guys, we can get through this! like today .. i just downed 25 squares of cadbury dairy milk and had 2 1/2 croissants after eating 2 bananas, 1 cup of strawberries, 1 yogurt, random indian food and curries and breads and stuff .. which ended up being like 2700 calories! yikes! anywho, i think that we should all realize that we are too good to do this to ourselves! sure food tastes great, but there should be a limit .. when we crave yummy goodies, they should be something healthy/low-cal .. examples might include: diet coke, tea, coffee, fruit, veggies, lean meats, fat-free yogurt, fat-free cheese etc .. i know that if we choose these options (especially at night time) we will feel fuller and realize that we didn't need all that chocolate/cake/cookies/ice cream/chips/fatty foods to make us feel good! ALSO we should keep little journals to see how we feel at certain times of wanting to eat .. like are we sad? and why are we sad? and what can we do other than eating to help solve the problem .. and also figure out who we are, which will make us a lot more confident and comfortable with ourselves .. i'm so happy that i'm not alone, and together we can fight this! =D

i have that all or nothing mentality, so i can't just have a serving. hiding something actually works better for me. i used to be a serious binger, but somehow i've gone from like 3500 cals to maybe ~1500. it's hard to explain how i did, i don't even know sometimes. i don't have that urge to "oh god! cram it in while you can!" mentality. what i do still have though, is extreme overeating (uncomfortable stomach), just on the verge of a binge. i've become so used to the binges, i can't distinguish what's full and what's not. by the time i realize i'm full, it's too late already. i've downed about ~1500, and it's not a pretty feeling.

I once counted one of my binges as being very close to 3,500 calories.
Quite a feat, I'd say.
I think avoiding Marijuana is key.

Seriously.

 

omg subwaybusker....i couldnt agree more...i am 100% all or nothing. its horrible and i know it. ill either restrict to the point of insanity or ill throw all logic out the window and eat anything and everything.

i think something that may help is to only keep healthy things in the house. if you cannot control the binges then only have fruits and veggies in the house. binging is obviously not healthy but better to binge on an entire jar of pickles then an entire box of cookies :P

i dont really have anything in particular that will trigger my binges. and unfortunatley they can come at any time of the day lol. i just wish that i had the mental strength to say to myself "quit it!" but when i eat the foods i binge on they just taste so good that i keep going and going and then after i'm done i feel like crap. not only mentally but physically. im bloated and my stomach hurts but i keep doing it :(

ive been told and ive read..that if you feel like you're going to binge you should do something to take your mind off the cravings....ie, cleaning your room...going for a walk...taking a shower...and i've actually found that to be very helpful at times. if you force your mind to think about something other than food, your tummy should follow as well. in the long run i think someone should invent some kinda "off/on" switch for hunger and cravings :P

It's interesting to see other people write about the same things you experience... especially all along when you have thought you were alone!

I also have problems with binge eating.  Somehow I manage to maintain my weight (which is lower than it "should" be).

I deal with the same issues that a lot of you have mention- eat over the amount of calories I planned, which leads to eating whatever I can get my hands on.

And I am full of promises to myself.  After a binge, I feel so positive about the next day.  I always think that the next day will be a fresh start- all the "bad" stuff was consumed during the binge so that I can start over with a clean slate.  And I promise myself that I will not buy anymore "bad" food.  But I somehow manage to convince my husband to go and buy me cookies at 10 PM!

And I hide what I eat, also.  I will wait until my husband goes to bed and then raid the food pantry ever so quietly.  I also have a history of raiding the kitchen and candy dish at work, looking for sweets when no one is looking.  It's pathetic at times.

I'm not quite sure how to handle all of this.  I try and take it one day at a time and be positive.  But it's hard to keep being positive when I continue to routinely fail myself.  Some days I wonder if I'll ever get better.  I did have a period where I went 6 months without eating sweets.  And you see, I always feel so much better when I am able to cut all of the bad stuff out.  It's just getting to that point and maintaining it.  Because the first thing "bad" you consume sends you into a spiral. 

Reading these posts makes me realize I'm not alone, thank you all. I can see myself in all your posts about all or nothing eating, binging on the weekends or evenings, and the cycle of maintaining some control for a short time before I binge & start all over again. I should mention I'm above my desireable body weight and BMI, and want to lose weight for health reasons.

I have certain "problem" foods that I can't seem to eat moderately of, namely any sort of cheese, ice cream and salty/fried items. I've eaten a whole block of cheese & pint of ice cream more times than I care to admit. Also, my husband has no weight/food issues & is able to eat whatever & however much of anything he wants; this makes it hard to keep from eating too much, too often, and too late (he works nights so is gearing up for dinner as I'm supposed to be winding down for bed).

Any suggestions on dealing with foods that trigger binging (outside of banning them completely from the house; there are some recipes that call for cheese!) and for maintaining willpower for being around food but not binging on it? Someone mentioned cognitive techniques - what's worked? thanks.